There are Many Forms of Bravery
by angelic-bitch
Summary: Rain transfers from Amity to Dauntless. What happens when the caring but fierce initiate meets the arrogant and strong Dauntless leader Eric? And why does he always pick on her the most? Read to find out. Eric/OC. No war. Set the year after Tris joined Dauntless.
1. Chapter 1: Freedom

**Disclaimer: Veronica Roth owns everything that has to do with the Divergent Trilogy. I own Rain Greenfield.**

 **There is no war against those who are Divergent.**

 **Our story begins the year after Tris makes it through to Dauntless.**

 **Chapter 1: Freedom**

"Rain Greenfield!"

The sixteen year old brunette girl rose from her seat within the Amity faction and made her way to the front of the hall where the five bowls that represented each faction lay. Rain felt an array of emotions not because she was unsure of what to choose but because she would be leaving her friends – her friends who had become her family after her parents died.

Rain picked up the knife in front of the bowls and flicked it around a few times as she had done for many years whenever she had a knife in her hand. She drew a deep breath and cut her hand hard and fast. It stung but she barely noticed because of the adrenaline pumping through her body. _This is it. I don't have to pretend anymore. I can be me._ Her hand moved over to the bowl of hot coals and she watched as the drops of blood sizzled at their encounter with the coals. The dauntless crowd roared in celebration as she joined them.

Many of the dauntless born chose their own faction, however there were quite a few transfers - mainly from Candor and Erudite. There was no one from Abnegation and two from Amity, Rain included. The other person from Amity was a boy named Thorne. They obviously knew each other but had never been close friends.

When the ceremony ended Rain locked eyes with her friend Rose-Lily who had taken her in when she had no one. Rose-Lily was 15 years older than her, as was Rose-Lily's husband Glenwood. She nodded at them both, smiled and placed her hand over her heart. They did the same. Her next goodbye was the hardest. Their little four year old daughter, Jasmine who was like a niece to her, was crying and waving.

"I love you Wainy!" she shouted above the noise. Rain felt her heart break slightly and her eyes filled with tears. Rain watched as the Dauntless begin to leave their chairs and she quickly made a split decision to run to Jasmine. The four year old realised what was happening and jumped into Rain's arms as she got there. Rain squeezed her tightly.

"I love you too Jazzy. So much. Be good for Mom and Dad!" She put her down quickly and without a second glance ran to catch up with her new faction.

Rain loved to run, it made her feel free. She used to run through the Amity fields when she felt the need to escape. She would run as fast as she could and as far as she could. When she would reach the tallest trees at the end of the fields she would climb them as high as she could. Up in the trees she could sit for hours. It was the only place she felt she could be herself. She felt that since she was in the sky, she was technically not in Amity anymore. As if by climbing the trees as high as possible somehow allowed her to cross a sort of barrier into non-Amity territory. It wasn't that she hated Amity, she just knew that she didn't belong there.

Rain found it easy to catch up to the others and even easier to climb the train bridge foundation pillars to get to the top to jump on the train. She was on a natural high from all the exercise. She was laughing out of exhilaration and breathing hard as she leaned against the train wall. Most of the other initiates were out of breath too.

After a while. She heard someone yell out, "Get ready guys! Try not to die!"

Rain's head snapped in the direction of the voice. It belonged to a dauntless girl dressed in leather with long purple hair. All of a sudden she jumped out of the carriage. Many others followed her.

"This is crazy, they can't expect us to jump," said a Candor guy, a look of terror upon his face. He was tall and thin with short brown hair. Something about him reminded Rain of Glenwood.

"So don't," sneered another Candor guy. "You're a coward. You don't belong in Dauntless anyway." Then he was gone, out of the carriage and safe from being factionless.

"Hey, don't listen to him. He's a dick. Come on we don't have much time," commanded Rain as she grabbed the Candor guy's hand and pulled him to the other side of the carriage.

"On the count of three we run and jump ok!" It wasn't really a question so Rain didn't wait for an answer. She squeezed his hand tightly, she counted, they ran and they jumped.

As they hit the gravel of the rooftop floor Rain grazed her hands and felt a sharp sting in her knee from a rock digging in through her leggings. She quickly brushed it off and looked up to see the Candor boy breathing heavily and smiling. She was doing the same.

"Thanks, he said gratefully, then introduced himself. "I'm Michael."

"Rain," she introduced herself in return. "You know, Michael, I think after this we have no choice but to be friends.

He laughed. "I think you're right."

They joined the rest of the initiates and soon one of the dauntless leaders, Max, explained that the only way to enter Dauntless was by jumping off the building.

"So who's going to be first?"

Everyone was silent. Rain felt every cell in her body ignite with excitement and nervousness. When she would climb the tall trees in Amity she would wish she could jump off and fly. Rain thought about this logically, there was no way Dauntless would legally be allowed to endanger them as they entered. She wasn't 100 percent sure, but she wanted to jump. Most likely she would be fine and if not, at least she would know what it was like to fly.

"Me," she stated. "I'll go first."

There were a few shocked looks from the other initiates and she heard a few whispers about her being Amity. The leader Max nodded at her to get atop the ledge and she did. She looked down and felt her whole body become alert. She wasn't scared of heights. She loved it. She was scared that there would be nothing at the bottom but she mentally pushed that fear aside.

She took in a shaky breath, smiled and then stretched her arms out as if she had wings _. Don't think, just do it,_ she thought to herself and she jumped off the ledge, wings outstretched.

As she hit the net at the bottom she began to giggle. It was exhilarating.

"What's your name?" came a rough voice to her side. She barely registered that someone had spoken.

"I'm free," she laughed.

"You're name's free?" came the rough voice again.

Rain continued to lay upon the net and laugh. It was as if she were drunk. "No, no, I'm _free_!" She tried to explain.

All of a sudden she felt the net being pulled down violently and she rolled off it into the strong arms of the owner of the rough voice. Her legs felt a bit like jelly, if he hadn't been holding onto her she would have toppled over. She had unknowingly put her hands on his shoulders to balance herself. She briefly noticed that they were very broad, muscular shoulders. As she looked up her eyes locked with cool, grey ones. They were not friendly. She began to sober up quickly. He let go of her by slightly pushing her back. She remained steady but became quite scared of him.

It was not his tattoos, his piercing or the obvious fact that he could snap her like a twig if he wanted to, it was the expression on his face. He looked like a hungry predator. Like the aggressive dog she had gutted in her aptitude test that told her she obviously belonged in Dauntless.

"What's your damn name?" he asked angrily.

"Rain," she swallowed nervously, "my name's Rain."

"First jumper, Rain," he boomed.

"What's yours? She said. This is why she belonged in Dauntless, even though she was scared her fear didn't stop her from putting herself in a dangerous position.

"What?" he asked almost viciously while narrowing his eyes at her.

Rain chewed on her lip nervously. "Your name," she asked in what she hoped was a calm voice, "what is it?"

He glared at her as if her speaking to him was offensive. Then he stepped forward until he was towering over her. Rain was determined not to step backwards even though every part of her body was telling her to do so.

He leaned in towards her and spoke in a low voice that sent chills up her spine. "Little Amity wants to know my name does she?" Rain didn't say anything and forced herself not to look away from his cruel eyes.

"It's Eric, little Amity. My name is Eric." He looked her up and down and leered at her.

Rain breathed a sigh of relief as the next initiate landed in the net and Eric turned his attention away from her.

 **So what do you think? Keep going? Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Dauntless

**Thanks so much to Lucy2410, RosalinRathheart1897 and the two guests for reviewing chapter 1 and thanks to all those who followed/favorited this story. I hope you like this next chapter…**

 **Chapter 2: Welcome to Dauntless**

After they had all jumped through the entry way to dauntless the transfers and dauntless-born were split up. The transfers went with their trainer whose name was Four. Four was incredibly hot and although he was intimidating, Rain didn't see the cruel streak in him that Eric clearly possessed. Four showed them to their quarters and gave them dauntless clothes. Rain did not feel one ounce of regret when she burnt her Amity clothes.

When Four showed them the pit Rain knew she was home. There was an atmosphere of joviality. It was loud, music was pumping in the background - pumping to the beat of her heart, not like the Kumbaya crap she was subjected to back in Amity. The music alone made her want to join in with the other dauntless members who were either dancing, play fighting, climbing the wall of the pit that was made for rock climbing or those couples who were making out and grinding to the music.

She was going to have fun here. She was free.

When it was time for dinner they all climbed through the gaping hole in the wall on the other side of the pit which led directly to the dining hall. Michael and Rain sat next to each other on a table with a group of other transfers. As she reached for a burger across the table another girl reached for the same one. They looked up at each other and Rain indicated for the other girl to take it.

"Thanks," she said as she put her burger into a bun with tomato sauce, a couple of lettuce leaves and a slice of cheese. "Hey you're the chick that jumped first yeah? It's Rain right?"

"Yeah, and this is Michael."

"Nora," the girl introduced herself. "You know, I gotta say, I didn't think an Amity would be first to jump."

"Neither did I." Said a girl sitting next to Nora. She wasn't being unkind, it was just a statement. Rain later found out that her name was Beverly. In true Erudite fashion Beverly looked at Rain for an explanation wanting to know the reason an Amity-born would have such courage.

"I guess that's because I never really had any Amity characteristics, I'd known for a long time that I didn't belong there."

"And what makes you think you belong here softie?" Unbeknownst to her and the other transfers, Eric had been listening to their conversation from the table behind them. He was now standing up looking down at Rain waiting for her to turn around and answer him. Rain's back stiffened. She knew whose voice it was without turning around.

"I got dauntless for my aptitude test." She answered in a clear voice without turning around to look at him. The rest of the table had become silent. No one looked up in case Eric would pick on them next. He crouched down beside her and place a hand on the table next to her plate to keep his balance. His cheek was almost touching hers and he whispered in a low voice.

"That doesn't _make_ you dauntless little Amity. I give you a week before you decide you can't hack it and leave to become factionless." He got up to leave but Rain felt her blood boil at both his words and his physical closeness. She got up hastily and ran to catch up with his long strides.

"Don't pretend to know me!" she hissed and he snapped around surprised that she had followed him. She was standing right in front of him refusing to be intimidated by his well-built form. She glared up into his eyes with a fiery passion.

"Because believe me sweetie, you don't!" she spat out and before he could reply she walked off towards the transfers dormitory each step stronger than the other motivated by her anger.

She didn't see the way his eyes followed her every move as she left. If she did she would have been more scared than angry.

When she reached her bed she plonked herself down on the mattress and lay on her back. Who the hell did he think he was? And why did he single her out? She hadn't done anything wrong. She had been the first jumper so why hadn't she gained a little of his respect from that?

She lay there alone trying to control her anger for a while until Beverly, Nora and Michael came in. They left the dining hall as soon as they finished eating and came to check on her. Michael sat on her bed with half her burger and a piece of chocolate cake on a plate.

"Babe you didn't finish your dinner."

Rain got up, took the plate and smiled. She liked the fact that Michael had affectionately called her babe.

"Thanks," she took a bite from the burger as Nora began to grill her about Eric.

"Dude, what did you do to piss him off?"

"I honestly don't know. I'm from Amity and apparently that means I'm a target for assholes like him."

"You shouldn't listen to him about not belonging in dauntless, I mean, the fact that you stood up to one of the five leader's means that you are brave!" Rain's head snapped up as she choked on her burger. Nora was looking at her in admiration.

"He's a leader?" asked Rain in panic.

"Oh shit!" exclaimed Michael.

Nora looked confused. "Didn't you guys know?"

"No! No I didn't. Oh great, this is just great!" Rain put her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Beverly said quietly. "The way he was looking at you suggests he wouldn't hurt you."

"What are you talking about Bev? He was looking at her like he wanted to kill her! It was almost animalistic!" She shivered. Rain felt a jolt of fear pass through her body and something else she couldn't quite name.

Beverly rolled her eyes, "Actually, it looked very much like he wanted to screw you right there on one of the dining tables in front of everyone! I think you should be fine."

Rain believed Nora's observation over Beverly's. If only she knew how accurate Beverly had been.

 **What do you reckon guys? Do you like the direction this is going in?**


	3. Chapter 3: Training

**Thanks for reviewing and deviousscribe, cheezemac, Sanjismarshmallow and guest and thanks to all those who followed and favorited this story.**

 **Chapter 3:**

" _Don't pretend to know me, because believe me sweetie, you don't!"_

Eric couldn't get the image of Rain yelling at him out of his head. She had been so fired up. So passionate. Her face had been flushed and she had been breathing hard and it was he and no one else who had gaged that reaction from her. He had wanted to slam her against the wall and take her right there.

He didn't understand how someone could affect him so much. She was everything he forced himself not to be. He showed his anger through his coldness, through his physical presence, the low tone of his voice and the look in his eyes. She had been angry and she had shown it by losing control of her emotions and yelling at him. He thought he would have seen such behaviour as weak but coming from her it was the sexiest thing he had ever seen.

When she had jumped through the entry way to Dauntless and landed in the net he had been mesmerised by her. She had such an energy about her as she giggled uncontrollably and babbled on about being free. She was vibrant - a raw beauty that he couldn't take his eyes off.

He wanted her and he hated her because of it.

Rain woke up to the sound of metal clanging against metal. It was Four waking them all up.

"Get up. You have 10 minutes to meet me in the training room."

They all shuffled around hastily not wanting to be late.

When Rain made it down to the training room she felt a great sense of relief that Eric wasn't there and that it was just Four. He explained that they would have a few sessions to learn some basic fighting techniques and then that they would be fighting against each other.

She didn't like the idea of violence, not because it wasn't an Amity thing where it should be about peace, love and everything warm and fuzzy, it was just that she had witnessed her fair share of violence when her mother died and she didn't want to be a part of it. However she reminded herself that she did like the idea of protecting those who needed it so she accepted that this sort of training was necessary.

Eric showed up at the end of the session to drop a bombshell on them about how not all of them would make it into Dauntless and that some would be factionless by the end of initiation. It would all depend on how well they ranked which would be determined by their combat skills and ability to face their fears.

Rain felt sick upon hearing this and she wasn't the only one. She had finally found a place where she could be herself and it could all disappear within a few months.

As they were all filing out of the training room she locked eyes with Eric who glared icily at her. His arms were crossed and she was very aware of his intimidating build and the muscles in his arms. She tried not to shiver. She wondered briefly if she should pack up and leave for the factionless now because it was obvious that Eric could easily influence the result and make sure she was ranked at the bottom. However, her determination kicked in and she told herself that she would have to simply work extra hard and prove to everyone that she deserved to be here. Eric wouldn't be able to dismiss her if the other trainers and leaders saw that she was capable.

After lunch Four started them on weapons training specifically how to fire a gun. Although Rain knew going into Dauntless that she would have to master her fear and hatred of this weapon she felt sick as she watched Four's ease with it. How could anyone be so comfortable with something that causes such destruction?

There were stations and targets set up for each of them and they all stepped forward to begin. Everyone picked up their gun except Rain. She stared at hers willing herself to pick it up. As she reached out she noticed that her hands felt incredibly alert, they began to shake slightly. She clucked her tongue in frustration and put her hands down.

"What's the problem initiate?" said a quiet voice behind her.

Rain sighed and turned around to look at Four.

"Nothing I just, I…" but she couldn't explain.

"You don't like guns," said Four. It was a statement not a question. Rain noticed that he was watching her curiously but there was no judgment in his eyes.

"No. I don't." she answered simply, feeling embarrassed.

"Neither do I," he said quietly. Her head snapped up in surprise.

"But avoiding the things we don't like is no way to go through life, so are you ready?" he smiled encouragingly at her and she smiled back. So it wasn't so easy for him, he just made it look easy. Knowing this made Rain feel like her reaction was more normal than she had originally thought. This boosted her confidence and gave her a new sense of determination.

"Ok." She answered firmly.

By the end of the session she had picked up the gun and had fired as many rounds as the others. She still wasn't comfortable with it and her aim was quite poor. However, Four made her feel like she had improved. Rain vowed to herself that she would keeping practicing and become the best shooter she could be. She thanked the heavens that it had been Four and not Eric who had been there for this session. She would have been humiliated if the Dauntless leader had seen her struggle to pick it up. He would have enjoyed it and mocked her, she was certain of it.

At dinner the whole table was buzzing with worried conversation. No one would stop talking about the fact that by the end of training some people would fail and become factionless. Rain didn't contribute much to the conversation and only spoke when she was spoken to. She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to think about it. Because when she did she began to feel the despair and loneliness she had felt when her parent's died. She knew there would be no Rose-Lily or Glenwood to take her in and make that feeling lessen if she were to become factionless.

As soon as she finished her dinner she feigned tiredness and left the table leaving her dessert to be battled over by her friends. She wanted to think about something else, anything else.

She made her way over to the one sided metal bridge that was situated over the chasm. She sat on the ledge with her legs dangling over the edge and watched as the water rushed over the rocks. She listened to the water and tried to shake away the anxiety that came with the idea of being factionless. Her mind began to wonder to her family especially little Jazzy. She missed her the most. She thought of the cute things she would say, her infectious laughter, her cuddles. It made her long to be back in Amity with them. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice that someone was behind her leaning against the metal railings watching her.

"You're not going to jump are you little Amity?" came a low voice from behind her.

Rain flinched slightly at his voice and turned around and looked up to see Eric smirking at her. She had told herself to try to stay out of his way after their last encounter so that she wouldn't make her situation worse but here he was and she couldn't avoid him. Why did he have to look so damn sexy leaning against the railings so casually with his muscles out there for everyone to see? Couldn't he wear a damn jacket with sleaves?

Rain cleared her throat and got up. She intended to get out of there as soon as she could.

"No of course not," she answered him as calmly as she could. She smiled at him politely, "excuse me," she said as she tried to walk past him.

But it wasn't going to be that easy. He moved to stand in her way and with his well-built form there was no room for her to go around him without falling into the chasm.

"What's wrong Amity? You seem sad!" he said in mock concern.

Rain was losing her patience fast but she tried to stay calm. _Remember he's a leader_.

"Thank you for your concern but I'm fine," she said, again trying to adopt a polite tone. Eric wasn't having it. He knew she was trying to restrain herself and he delighted in the idea of being the one to break her.

"No one stares at the chasm so long without thinking of jumping. It's not because you'll be factionless in a few months is it?"

Rain felt her temper flare. "I wasn't thinking of jumping!" she snapped, her hands clenched together in anger. He noticed this and smiled with satisfaction.

"Good," he stated, "'cos it would be such a hassle to have to drag your body out. It happens every year and it's such a bitch."

Rain couldn't control herself anymore.

"How can you be so callous? She almost snarled. "These are human lives you're talking about!"

"Aw," Eric mocked almost gleefully. She had risen to the bait. "How Amity of you. Are you going to cry now, maybe write a song about all the lost souls your sweet little heart breaks for?"

Rain's eyes narrowed and she scoffed.

"Don't act like you know me." She spat out between clenched teeth. Eric smirked and moved closer until he was towering over her but he never got to answer her.

"Rain!" a clear voice called from the other side of the bridge. It was Four. Eric's eyes flashed with annoyance but he covered it up with a bored expression before anyone noticed. He stepped away from Rain and let her pass.

"I want to talk to you about training," Four said clearly as he watched Eric cross the bridge the other way and disappear.

It was obvious to Rain that Four was saving her from Eric without actually getting involved. He made some small talk about shooting techniques she should practice and then sent her on her way. She was grateful that he didn't ask her about Eric. She didn't fully understand her reaction to him herself. A part of her had wanted to push him of the ledge and the other part, well, she wasn't sure. She kept thinking of how intimidating his size was and how it felt to have him physically close to her.

Whatever she felt, she had to find a way to be more alert to when he was around and simply go the other way. She would not let him bait her again. No matter what he said she would respond calmly and coldly.

That was the plan anyway.


	4. Chapter 4: Knife Thrower

**Thanks heaps for reviewing sharonmayes353 and Reedy1012 and thanks to those who followed and favorited. I really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you enjoy reading it!**

Chapter 4: Knife Thrower

The next day Rain found herself in a training session that she absolutely loved. Knife throwing. It was so different to shooting a gun and she found a sense of healing in the art of it. It was something she used to practice herself when she was in Amity. A few years back she had begun to train herself. She had been out in the fields gathering certain herbs and reeds with the rest of her group. They each had a knife to cut them with - it was a common gathering tool. It was one sunny day in the afternoon when she saw the shadow of a tree cut across another trees trunk and she was somehow filled with the urge to aim her knife at the edge of the shadow. She had failed miserably the first time but over the years she had developed a fine aim and a graceful technique. It was as if the knife was a part of her own arm and she could bend it to her will.

"Damn girl," whistled Michael. "You're good at this!"

Rain laughed. "Thanks!"

They had been at it for almost an hour and everyone had noticed Rain's ability. Most were jealous, especially a Candor transfer named Oliver.

"So who'd you sleep with to help you with those skills Amity?" he taunted. Rain's back stiffened.

"Back off asshole!" Michael defended her.

"It's ok Mike, I'll tell you Ollie honey. I slept with your father! He's not so good in the sack, but he's got mad knife throwing skills."

Oliver's face went red and he stormed over to her. "What did you just say to me bitch?" he whispered viciously.

"Is there a problem?" came Four's voice from the other side of the room. He had been helping Nora with her stance. Everyone suddenly became quiet watching the scene unfold, however before either Rain or Oliver could answer they were all interrupted.

"Is this how you train your initiates Four?" came Eric's judgemental voice as he entered the training room. He pointedly looked around at all the initiates doing nothing. They hastily began throwing their knives again. All except for Rain and Oliver who were still glaring at each other.

"They're training just fine," Four stated clearly. "I'm just wondering what's happening between these two.

Eric reached them as Oliver replied, "We're just getting to know each other Four, it's not a big deal."

Michael turned around. "That's crap! He was giving her shit because she's a better knife thrower than him."

Eric's eyebrows raised in surprise as he looked Rain up and down. Then he turned his attention to Oliver.

"You're letting an Amity girl get the best of you initiate?"

Oliver grit his teeth. "As if!" he scoffed.

"Oh please," started Rain, "I'm better at this than you and you know it." Rain knew she should have kept quiet but Oliver had pissed her off and although she wouldn't admit it, she didn't want Eric to think Oliver was better than her.

Eric was more than slightly intrigued now.

"Everybody stop!" He commanded. They all did. "Apparently we've got a bit of competition on our hands here. Nothing wrong with that. Well come on you two, let's make it a game. You get three chances. Whoever hits closest to the target's heart wins. Whoever loses has to do an extra three hours of training and then pack up the training room." He then indicated for them to step forward.

"Ladies first," mocked Rain as she glared at Oliver. Eric held back a laugh. He was mesmerised by her feistiness. He nodded to Oliver who unwillingly picked up a knife and threw it. It landed on the target's shoulder.

Eric then raised his eyebrows at Rain to take her shot.

She sighed irritably then picked up six knives on the table closest to her with her left hand and put one in her right. She turned to glare at Oliver then threw the knife. She had aimed for the target's groin and it hit between the target's legs perfectly. Before anyone could say she missed the target she spoke clearly.

"My bad, I was thinking of you Oliver." She mocked, a smirk upon her face. His face turned red again as many of the other initiates laughed. If she had looked Eric's way she would have noticed his unhidden desire for her.

"Rain…" Four warned.

"What?" she said, annoyed. "You want the heart? Fine." She tossed the knife carelessly and it landed perfectly in the target's heart.

"Or how about the brain?" The knife hit the target perfectly with a thud.

"Tits?" Twos knives went flying. Again, both hitting the target.

"Middle finger?" Again, perfect shot.

Eric was dumbfounded. How was she so good at this?

"Go back to training everyone!" Ordered Four. "Rain come over here." His voice was firm. Rain walked over to Four and Eric not caring about the earful she was going to get next. Oliver was a dick and she had done nothing wrong.

"Your arrogance is unnecessary," he stated.

"He was being a dick," she protested. She was still fuming so she didn't notice how Eric's eyes never left her.

"Even so, did you ever think that instead of fighting with him you could turn the situation around and help him instead? You of all people should know that the best way to defeat an enemy is to become their friend."

Eric and Rain scoffed in unison and before Eric could mock Four, Rain replied.

"Sorry but I don't have that much Amity left in me."

Four sighed. There was no way he could get through to her. Not when she was in a mood like this.

"You're done here, go up to the roof and practice your shooting. You're not so good at that are you?"

Rain's eyes narrowed but she didn't say anything. Eric watched her body sway gracefully as she walked out of the training room.

This didn't go unnoticed by Four.

Michael and the others noticed that Rain didn't come down to dinner.

"You don't think she's still on the roof do you? Asked Beverly as she took a spoonful of her dessert. "It's been three hours."

"I don't know," Michael shrugged. "I'll go check."

"Here, take her some food." Nora put a few pieces of pizza on a plate for Rain and handed it to Michael. Unbeknownst to them Eric was watching them from the corner of his eye at the next table and listening to their conversation. He hated this Michael kid. Why was he always following Rain around like a lost puppy? He watched as the kid left the dining hall. He wanted to follow him but unfortunately he was stuck in a conversation with another Dauntless leader.

Michael found Rain on the roof. She was laying on the ground looking up at the stars, the gun she had been practicing with was on the ground further away from her.

"You call this training?" he teased as he sat down next to her.

"Ugh! I gave up on that unholy instrument of death two hours ago," replied Rain still looking at the sky.

"Unholy instrument of death," Michael laughed. "Nice. Very poetic, very Amity."

Rain glared at him.

"Hey don't hate me, I brought you pizza!"

Rain's glare turned into a smile and she sat up taking the plate from him. "Angel." She said to him as she took a bite.

"So why didn't you come down to dinner?" he asked her.

"Got lost in thought I guess."

"What were you thinking about?"

They settled into a comfortable conversation each learning more about the other. Rain liked how easy it was to be around him. She could be herself. Back in Amity she always found herself feeling guilty or apologising for what she said or how she reacted. Not here. Half an hour passed easily without either of them becoming bored or running out of things to say. They were enjoying each other's company so much that neither of them noticed when the door to the roof opened or that they were being watched.

Eric was leaning on the closed door unashamedly listening to their conversation. As he watched how easy Rain was in Michael's company he found himself becoming more and more frustrated.

"No way! No way did you do that!" Rain laughed. Michael had been explaining some of the rebellious pranks he had played in Candor and Rain was in hysterics.

"It's true." Michael laughed.

"Geez, you're way more crazier than I thought you were!"

"Me?" Michael replied. "What about you and Oliver today? At one point I really thought you might reach out and slit his throat!"

"Ugh! What a douche!" Michael nodded his head in agreement.

"I have more self-control than that you know. I didn't to want kill him."

"Uh-huh," Michael answered with a look that said he didn't believe her.

"What? I didn't! I just thought about slicing his dick off, that's all!" Rain grinned widely.

Michael chuckled. "Nice, very Amity of you."

"Well I could write a poem about it afterwards if that would make you feel better?" Rain offered cheekily.

They laughed together. Eric's eyes narrowed. He really hated this Michael kid - though he wouldn't admit to himself that it was because he was jealous.

"You know what I don't get? You're crazy good at knife throwing but you can't shoot a gun to save your life."

Rain frowned. "Dude, they're totally different weapons."

"Not really, I mean, you aim you shoot, you aim you throw…" he shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not that simple and you know it!" Rain argued. "Guns are made specifically to end someone's life. Knives are not."

"Is that why you struggled to pick up the gun in our first session?" Michael asked curiously.

Rain looked down and sighed. "You saw that huh?"

"You were looking at it like it was a tiger ready to pounce or something. Have you had any experience with guns before? Is that why you -"

"Michael I don't want to talk about this." Rain interrupted him looking down.

Michael looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. He reached over and gently putting one finger under her chin, he raised her chin up so they were looking at each other.

"Hey don't be sad," he said kindly. He got up and reached his hand out to her. She took it and let him pull her up. "Come on," he said and walked over to the gun she had been practicing with earlier. "Show me what you're made of!"

Rain rolled her eyes but smiled. "Fine. If you enjoy seeing utter failure." She took the gun from him instantly feeling a nervous alertness in her fingers. She held herself in position, clicked the safety off, aimed the gun and fired. The bullet hit the outer ring of the target.

Eric was about to reveal himself by saying how pathetic her attempt was but Rain beat him to it. She clicked the safety back on, put the gun down and made a noise of frustration.

"Ugh! See how much I suck? I have reached a new level of suckage! I could build a Kingdom for myself and all would bow down to me - the Queen of suckiness!"

Michael chuckled, "It's not that bad babe, come on I'll help you." He moved so that he was standing behind her. He put one hand on her waist and the other over her right hand on the gun.

Eric glared at Michael's hand on her waist. He wasn't going to let this go on any further. He walked towards them.

"Well isn't this sweet."

Both Michael and Rain turned around in surprised to find Eric smirking at them. There was nothing teasing about his smirk, if anything it was rather sinister.

"I-I was just helping her with her aim," Michael tried to explain. Eric's eyes narrowed at him and Michael instinctively took a step away from Rain.

"A lot of good that will do, an initiate training another initiate. Go take this back to the kitchens." Eric picked up the plate Michael had brought Rain's pizza on and shoved it into Michael's hands. He took it and gave Rain a look that asked her if she was ok if he left. This annoyed Eric.

"Are you deaf initiate?" he spat out at Michael. Rain nodded to say that it was ok. Michael looked at her apologetically and left.

Eric's arms were crossed and he was glaring at her.

"Your boyfriend didn't seem too happy about leaving you alone with me."

"He's not my boyfriend," Rain snapped.

"Does he know that _babe_?" Eric emphasised the last word to show that he had overheard them.

"What does it matter to you anyway? If he _was_ my boyfriend that would _none_ of your business Eric." Rain was now crossing her arms and glaring back at him. So much for her plan to stay off his radar.

"Watch your tone initiate," Eric warned in a low voice. Their eyes were locked to each other. Rain swallowed nervously and thought about how to get out of this situation.

"I," she started. "I should go. Got to be up early for training and all that. Goodnight Eric." She made to walk past him and leave but his hand reached out and gripped her arm tightly. He was touching her bare skin and she felt a bolt electricity run through her. She took a shaky breath.

"Did I say you could leave?" Eric whispered.

 **So what do you think? Want more Eric and Rain goodness? If so then review!**


	5. Ch 5: There are no cowards in Dauntless

**Thanks so much to Sanjismarshmallow, Classybird, mmelody6, Reedy1012, Brianna and the two guests for reviewing and thanks so all those who followed and favourited this story. I hope you guys like this chapter!**

 **Chapter 5: There are no cowards in Dauntless**

Rain violently shrugged her arm away and stepped back so that Eric was no longer touching her. She hated that she had felt a sense of excitement when their skin made contact.

"What the hell do you want from me?" she spat out.

Eric's face became emotionless. He had felt an electric charge when he had touched her and he hated to admit to himself that he didn't like that she had pulled away. He was going to show her that he was the one in control.

"Pick up the gun." He commanded.

"What?"

"Pick up the gun initiate. You're going to learn how to use it properly." The tone of his voice indicated that there was no room to argue but Rain paid no heed to it.

"I don't need your help!" Rain snapped as she glared up at him.

Eric laughed coldly. "If what I saw was the best you can do, you sure as hell do if you don't want to become factionless."

Rain looked at him with utter distain.

"I didn't say that I didn't need help, I said that I didn't need _your_ help! Four is helping me in our training sessions just fine!"

If Rain had known about Eric's deep hatred for Four she wouldn't have mentioned him. Instantly Eric imagined Four's hands on Rain in the way Michael's had been moments earlier.

His eyes darkened and Rain had to force herself not to take a step back from him.

"Pick up the gun initiate. I'm not going to ask you again."

Rain's main motivation for picking it up was that it was further away from Eric than she was now. The same nervousness she always felt spread through her fingers as she held the gun.

"Aim." He commanded.

Rain moved into her shooting stance. Eric came forward to observe her.

"Raise your right elbow higher. Hold it steady." Rain shifted into position very aware that Eric was standing close behind her.

"You're whole body is tense. It's obvious that you dislike the weapon. Breathe. Loosen the tension in your shoulders."

Rain tried to breathe evenly as she rolled her shoulders backwards to try to shake off the tension. She put herself into position again. Eric reached out and gripped her right arm.

"Your right arm needs to be higher and in level with the rest of your body. You can't let the gun be too heavy for you. You're weak and it shows. This gun should be like a part of your arm – your arm cannot be too heavy for you can it? You won't improve unless you are comfortable holding it." Rain sighed in frustration. Everything he was saying made sense and she could feel the warmth of his hand upon her skin.

"Concentrate." Rain did the best to keep the gun steady, she kept her right elbow up and breathed in and out. Eric let go of her.

"Fire." He commanded firmly.

Rain hesitated slightly but then pulled the trigger. They both watched the bullet hit the inner ring of the target just outside the centre. Rain had never gotten so close before. She hated that Eric had helped her and that she was now indebted to him.

"Thanks," she mumbled looking his way letting their eyes connect for a brief second before she looked away.

"You think that was acceptable?" Eric asked sternly.

Rain turned to him waiting for the onslaught of insults to come her way. Of course he wouldn't acknowledge that she had improved. What had she expected?

"You're probably the worst shooter here." He declared. She didn't respond to his insult with one of her own. She was tired of fighting with him and was annoyed at her shooting skills. He was right, she probably was the worst.

"Can I go now?" she asked trying to apply an expression of boredom to her face. Eric's eyes flashed in annoyance.

"If you don't care about this you might as well leave to join the factionless today – "

Rain cut him off, "I do care - "

"Then prove it." He talked over her. "You will meet me here after dinner every Tuesday and Thursday to train for an hour."

"What? No!"

"I didn't ask you a question initiate."

"But you can't just - "

"What initiate?" He ask in a low mocking tone as he stepped towards her. "What are you going to tell your faction leader that he can't do?

Rain was lost for words. He was right and she knew it. He had complete power over her.

"I – but – y - you – "

Eric smirked at her discomfort.

"You're just doing this because I'm the only one who doesn't pretend that you're not a total asshole!" she burst out.

Eric's eyes flashed dangerously. "Watch it, initiate," he warned and took another step closer so that he was invading her personal space.

Rain breathed in in frustration. How was he able to get her to lose her temper so easily? She wished she could be controlled in her reactions like him. Though if she had known that Eric was not feeling in control at that moment because he wanted to take her right there up against the wall, she wouldn't have felt so inadequate.

She took a step back, then away from him and marched to the rooftop door. She had to force herself not the give into the impulse to slam it on her way out.

As she made her way back to the initiate's dormitory and began to calm down she realised what had just happened. If he was willing to give up his time to train her, a part of him must think that she was actually worth it - a part of him must think that she could make it into Dauntless. It would make no sense for him to waste time on someone he _really_ believed would be factionless.

Rain smiled at this but then berated herself for caring. She should believe in herself. She shouldn't need his approval. The problem, she realised, was that she did want it. She hated herself for it. She hated him more.

A few days later Rain found herself experiencing her first real fight. They had had a few training sessions learning basic fighting techniques but not enough to make her feel even close to being ready. It was her, the first jumper against the last jumper, Rachel, a small girl from Erudite.

Rain was surprised to learn that Rachel was stronger than she had anticipated. The girl was more than willing to throw a few punches Rain's way. This didn't bother her - she was able to block them successfully. What did bother Rain was that she found herself more reluctant than she thought she would be to hurt another person. She had always hated violence but this was the training that was supposed to lead her to living a life of value – a life where she could protect the innocent people who needed protecting, yet she couldn't bring herself to fight.

She was glad Eric wasn't there, she was sure he would be yelling at her to beat the crap out of Rachel and having a field day with the fact that she couldn't.

Their fight went on in a continual dance of attack and defend with Rachel trying her best and Rain blocking her at every turn. It was going nowhere.

"Rain," came Four's warning voice. "You can't continue like this. You need to go on the offensive like Rachel."

They continued for a few minutes and Rain tried to convince herself to at least throw one punch, but she couldn't.

"STOP!" a voice boomed. "Enough of this Four, record Rachel as the winner since she actually attempted fighting."

Rain looked up to see Eric glaring at her in disgust. When did he even enter the room?

"There is no place for cowards here in Dauntless." Eric lectured the room. "The rules are clear, you fight until one of you can't continue or until one of you concedes. From now on we will take it as you automatically conceding if you don't fight."

Rain swallowed and took a deep breath. How was she going to get a handle on this? Eric turned towards her.

"Get out of here Amity, you don't deserve to be in this training room. You can enter tomorrow if you're willing to fight. If not, pack your bags."

She heard a few of the other transfers snigger.

Rain looked away from him. She was ashamed of herself and hated herself for it. Maybe he was right, maybe she should have stayed in Amity. Not embracing violence would have been revered in Amity. She felt like crumpling into a ball on the floor and crying her eyes out.

Not wanting him or any of them to see her cry, she walked out of the room silently and as calmly as she could trying to make it seem as if she didn't care.

Rain made it back to the transfers' room and burst into tears. What if she couldn't do this? What if she became factionless?

A few hours later Rain woke up in her bed. She had cried herself to sleep. It wasn't a bad thing though, she somehow felt refreshed. Maybe all she had needed to do was have a good cry and let the tension out.

She noted that it was a little after 4pm. Not used to having time to herself she didn't really know what to do but she didn't want to stay in this room and wallow. She found herself wandering towards the chasm. When she reached the metal bridge she sat down and let her legs dangle over the side and listened to the water below. It was soothing.

"You're not going to jump are you?" came a voice from behind her.

Why did people always ask her that? Rain clucked her tongue in annoyance and turned her head to respond. "No, I'm not!" she stated stiffly. "Thanks for the concern though." She added as a sarcastic afterthought.

The owner of the voiced laughed and then moved to sit down next to Rain. "Hey, it's a valid question. People do it all the time, especially initiates."

Rain didn't respond.

"I'm Christina."

Rain sighed, but acknowledged the girl next to her. "Rain."

Christina nodded. "It's not that bad you know? Initiation."

Rain rolled her eyes.

"Ok, well it is. But you become a stronger person. Not just physically you know? You push yourself to your limits and you learn what you can handle."

"Well apparently I can't handle very much." Rain answered, and for some reason she explained to this stranger what happened that morning in fight training. She explained everything, how she couldn't bring herself to attack her opponent and how Eric had thrown her out.

"Wait, he just threw you out?" asked Christina, surprised.

"Yeah, I'm too cowardly to enter the training room."

"No I mean, that's it? He didn't _make_ you fight that girl? Or him? Or do a thousand push ups as penance for your cowardice or something?"

"No he just humiliated me in front of everyone," Rain said annoyed.

"Yeah but, that's it?" Christina was confused. "Are you sleeping with him or something?"

Rain was put off guard by that question. "What? No! Geez of course not!"

Christina continued to look confused. "I don't get."

"Get what?"

"Why he was so… lenient with you. When I conceded to a fight last year he hung me off this bridge for five minutes for my cowardice. I had just had the crap kicked out of me and I had to hang on or die or give up and go factionless. You wouldn't even fight and he just let you leave. It doesn't make sense."

Rain's eyes were wide in shock. She looked over the edge and felt a jolt of nervous energy run through her. She couldn't imagine the terror she would feel if she had to hang off here knowing she could die at any moment. She also felt a new found hatred for Eric. He was a dick but how could he be so cruel and nonchalant about an innocent person's life?

Christina saw Rain's shock and new what she was thinking. "It's ok hon, I didn't die."

"What an absolute asshole." She raged.

"Well yeah, but I mean, that's Eric." Christina explained as if that was a logical explanation. She then got up. "I've got to go, just be careful around him yeah? If he didn't punish you today, it may be coming later."

Rain nodded and Christina began to walk away.

"Hey Christina," Rain called after her. Christina turned around. "Which faction were you in before?"

"I never said I was a transfer." Christina answered back.

"But you are aren't you?" Rain questioned further.

Christina smiled. "Care to hazard a guess where from?"

Rain thought about it for a moment. "Erudite?"

Christina seemed surprised. "Why Erudite?"

Rain shrugged, "You seem smart."

Christina laughed, "That's not something I get every day but thanks. I'm actually Candor-born."

And with that Christina was gone leaving Rain to wonder if Eric was going to punish her in their training session that night. Well, she made up her mind, she wouldn't let him.

 **Review if you want more…**


	6. Chapter 6: Fear of Guns

**Thanks so much to mmelody6, scorpio2009, Sarah Lisa, hugabunny12, SmallLittleCagedBird and the two guests who reviewed and also to those who followed and favourited this story.**

 **Chapter 6: Fear of Guns**

At dinner Rain found herself alone. Nora, Beverly and Michael were nowhere to be seen. As she took the last bite of her burger she felt someone sit next to her. For a split second she panicked because she thought it might be Eric.

She looked up to find the only other Amity transfer Thorn sitting next to her. He was sporting a gruesome black eye.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?" she asked.

"I was against Oliver in my fighting match today," answered Thorn.

Rain's eyes widened. Oliver revelled in any form of violence.

Thorn shrugged. "Don't feel bad for me. I chose this. This a part of being Dauntless."

Rain frowned. He was right. _So why did I choose this?_

"So how are you going after today?" he asked her gently.

"I'm feeling kind of…ugh about everything," she replied.

Thorn smiled warmly at her. "So…you wanna share circle?"

This made Rain laugh. Back in Amity they would have regular "share circle" sessions where they would talk about how they felt. She had hated it. Mainly because everyone would try to get her to talk about her parents which she didn't want to do unless it was with people she was close to.

"I don't think two people count as an official circle, but sure. How are you feeling today Thorny?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice of concern.

They both laughed and Rain noticed how Thorn's smile reached his eyes. Not like Eric's smirks and sneers that were always threatening.

"But seriously Rain, What happened today? Why didn't you fight Rachel? You could have easily taken her if you tried." His voice wasn't demanding or accusatory. He was asking out of genuine concern.

Rain looked down and swallowed.

"I don't know," she answered quietly. "I guess I don't understand the need for unnecessary violence. Rachel hasn't done anything to me."

"So you need there to be a reason?"

"Yeah I guess."

"And becoming factionless isn't reason enough?"

Rain exhaled slowly. "Not reason enough to hurt an innocent person I guess."

"Ok, so what is a good enough reason?"

"I don't know, when someone is really trying to hurt you and you need to protect yourself or others. Especially others."

Thorn nodded in understanding.

"That's the main reason you transferred to Dauntless isn't it?"

Rain's mind briefly floated to the day her mother was shot and how she and her father had done nothing to try to stop it.

"Yes, I want to protect others who can't do it themselves."

Thorn nodded then shifted in his seat to face her properly.

"You're not the only one who doesn't like meaningless violence you know? But the thing is, what you did today actually did hurt Rachel.

Rain's brows furrowed. "What are you talking about? I barely touched her."

"Exactly! And now she has less experience than the others and doesn't understand her own skills and how she needs to improve."

Realisation hit as it dawned on her that she had taken a valuable training lesson away from Rachel.

"I've put her at a disadvantage for her next fight," sighed Rain.

Thorn nodded. "Yeah, her and yourself."

Rain clucked her tongue and ran her hand over her eyes.

"Because how is she going to learn how to defend herself or others if nobody fights her?" she said quietly.

"And because how are you going to learn to protect others if their enemy needs to be taken down and you don't have the skills to do it?"

Rain sighed again.

"So I guess it's not unnecessary violence?" Rain realised.

Thorn nodded, smiling because she now understood.

"It's training. I mean, it sucks hardcore but they're training us to be better protectors." He stated.

Rain bit her lip nervously, now more sure than ever that she was going to force herself to fight tomorrow.

"Nice share circle work Thorny!" Rain smiled at him and he chuckled. "You're good at this. Why weren't you like this back in Amity?"

"I was," he replied. "You just didn't get the pleasure of my company because I was friends with River."

River was Rain's ex-boyfriend.

Rain rolled her eyes. "Good point."

"As I recall, you had no trouble punching _him_!"

Rain mock-glared at him and they both laughed.

"Yeah well, he deserved it! Anyways, is there anything _you_ want to _share_?"

Thorn then informed her that Beverly had been taken to the infirmary after her fighting match, which is why her friends were absent at dinner. Rain rushed down to see her and found Beverly laying down on a bed nursing a broken nose with Michael and Nora crowded around her trying to cheer her up. She joined them and unfortunately lost track of time.

When she did remember her training session with Eric it was a little past 7.30pm. She tried to calm down by reminding herself that they hadn't agreed on a specific time. He had said that they had to meet every Tuesday and Thursday after dinner. It was still after dinner so how could he get upset?

She opened the door to the rooftop and ran through it to find Eric glaring at her while holding a rifle across his chest. She froze when she saw him but then walked towards him trying to act naturally. His eyes followed her every move.

This was not good.

"You're late," he growled when she reached him.

Rain licked her lips nervously. An action which he noticed.

"I – well, you never set a specific time. You said after dinner, it's after dinner." She bit her lip hoping that her acting confused would get her out of this.

His eyes narrowed and he gripped the gun in his hands tighter. Rain noticed the muscles in his arms ripple when he did this. Damn it! Why did his arms have to be so… alluring? She couldn't deny that she wanted to run her hands all over them and… her lips… and maybe even bite him. She was disgusted with herself and angry at him. Why wasn't he wearing a bloody jacket? Didn't he get cold?

"I'm surprised you even showed up actually," he taunted. "What with your grand display of passivism today and all."

Rain felt herself blush. She knew he was going to bring up the fact that she didn't fight Rachel today. He really enjoyed twisting the knife.

"Why should I even bother training you? You won't fight, you hate guns…"

"Both challenges that I will overcome!" Rain replied in frustration. "I'm here aren't I? Ready to train! And I _will_ fight whoever I'm up against tomorrow!"

Eric scoffed but then looked at her curiously.

"Tell me little softie, why are they such a _challenge_ for you? The other Amity kid seems to be fine. So what's so different about you?"

His questions were becoming too personal. Rain tried to dodge them. She was unsuccessful.

"Look, are we going to stand around chatting all night or are we going to shoot stuff?"

He took a step towards her and he was now bordering on invading her personal space. He leaned down to ask her in a low tone…

"What is it that you dislike so much about fighting and guns?"

"It's not important. Yesterday Four had us shoot a moving target and I didn't even hit any of them so we should probably work on that."

"Did you have any experience with guns when you were back in Amity?" He remembered overhearing Michael ask her that same question and he was curious himself.

Rain took a sharp breath.

"That's it isn't it? What happened?"

"I'd never seen a gun in my life until I transferred!" She answered too quickly. He cocked his head to the side and looked into her eyes. He knew she was lying.

"What happened little Amity?" He asked softly but it wasn't a gentle tone. It was mocking.

"No." she protested firmly. "I'm not doing this with you. If you don't want to train, that's your problem asshole."

She turned around to leave and after she took several steps a bullet went buzzing past her and hit the brick wall before her. Eric had shot at her.

She froze for a short minute, realised what had happened, then whipped around in anger.

"Are you fucking crazy?" she screamed at him. "You could have killed me!"

Eric smirked, the epitome of arrogance. "Believe me little Amity, if I had wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. I never miss."

Rain wanted to turn and run but she was scared he would shoot at her again.

"Let's play a little game Amity. If you can stand on the spot without taking a step back while I fire ten times I won't expect an answer from you." He raised his gun.

Rain instantly felt a jolt of anxiety pass through her. She looked at the gun aimed at her and began to shake.

"N-n-no wait!" she raised both hands as if doing so would stop him. Her hands were shaking. "Eric, please d-don't do this."

She was breathing hard.

He smiled cruelly. He was finally in control. This would teach her to keep him waiting.

"What's the matter Amity? I thought you'd never seen a gun since you transferred!" He fired the first shot and she flinched as it went off.

She became completely undone.

Hands still out in defeat, she let out a sob and stumbled over her words. "M-my mom, he-he shot my mom. I-I was eight and we-we-we-we were at home. He came in w-with a gun and he said if he couldn't have her no one could and h-he shot her.

Rain's vision was blurred with unshed tears but she saw Eric put his arm down. He was no longer aiming at her and that was all she needed to get out of there. Letting out another sob she ran to the door, opened it and didn't stop running until she reached the transfer's dorm.

 **Review if you want more!**


	7. Chapter 7: Stubbornness

**Thank you so much lokidoki9, izzy Uchiha, SmallLittleCagedBird, mmelody6, hired15, Gummienummie, ShyNiks and the guests who reviewed! You guys gave me the motivation to write another chapter. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 7: Stubbornness**

 _Punch._

Eric hated himself.

 _Punch._

Why did he have to be such a bastard?

 _Punch._

No, why did he care?

 _Punch._

He treated all the initiates like this.

 _Punch._

So why should he feel guilty?

 _Punch._

What was so different about her?

 _Punch._

Everything.

Eric sighed in frustration and ripped his boxing gloves off. He'd been taking out his anger on a punching bag for the last half hour but it wasn't helping. All he could see was Rain's tear filled eyes as he forced her to relive the worst memory of her life. Her body had been shaking. She had stumbled over her words. He had reduced her to an innocent, quivering, little lamb. What did that make him?

No.

This isn't any different to how he treated all initiates. He pushed them to their breaking points and if they came out stronger they were meant to be in Dauntless. The only difference was that he wanted to screw her. That's it. It was getting him confused. There was no reason for him to feel guilty. There was no reason for him to feel anything.

That night he went down to the pit to find himself a girl to distract himself with. It didn't work. As soon as they were done he went back to his apartment only to be consumed with thoughts of Rain, her face, her raw fear, the sound of her sobs. He hated himself.

He hated her for making him feel this way.

The next day Eric saw her at breakfast huddled next to Michael with his arm around her. He felt the desire to twist Michael's arm behind his back and break it. He restrained himself though. He decided he would ignore Rain until their next training session where everything would go back to normal. He would train her and she would either pass or fail initiation. Either way, he didn't care.

Rain was relieved that Eric didn't show up during their fighting sessions the next day. There was less pressure. After last night and not fighting Rachel she felt she had to prove to him specifically that she was meant to be there. She didn't want to feel this way. She just wanted to do her best for herself and no one else.

She fought against an Erudite transfer named Isabelle. They were quite evenly matched but in the end she won. She came out with a black eye and bruised ribs but she was proud of herself. She had learnt more about herself - that she could fight, that she could withstand pain and this gave her back the confidence she had lost after her encounter with Eric. One day she was going to be strong enough to protect others. That was the whole point of being in Dauntless. She would have a purpose.

Poor Beverly was still in the infirmary resting. They gathered around her at lunch trying to make her feel better. She was nervous that she would be cut if she wasn't allowed back into the training sessions.

"Just give it a few more days and you'll be back, you'll see," said Michael encouragingly.

"Yeah," Rain chimed in. "There's nothing wrong with getting hurt, they'll just be watching how well you bounce back."

"Exactly," agreed Thorn. He had now become a part of their group.

Beverly sighed through the bandages on her nose. "I hope you're right. I'm so bored here."

"We'll come visit you at dinner ok?" said Nora.

Rain liked how they had all naturally come together to support one another. Even though they were all in competition with each other for initiation it didn't seem to influence their friendship.

Rain enjoyed their next session. They were allowed out of the Dauntless compound and into the city where they were harnessed up and practiced climbing and abseiling up and down several buildings. Rain loved it. It was better than climbing the trees in Amity. She loved scaling down the buildings the most. It felt a bit like flying and she remembered that this sense of freedom was another reason why she had chosen Dauntless.

The days passed, she won some fights and lost some. In one fight against a guy named Luke she had conceded after coughing up her own blood. She didn't hate him for it though. In fact he had come to check in on her later to make sure she was ok. She had laughed with him about it, Dauntless was weird she decided - you kick the crap out of people and then apologise. Well the nice ones apologised anyway. She noticed that people seemed to enjoy taking a hit or punch to her ribs. She had to work more on defending herself there.

Tuesday came around and she decided that she wasn't going to train with Eric that night or any night for that matter. He had not paid her any attention in the last few days and she had hoped this meant that he had lost interest in torturing her. Maybe he didn't expect her to show up anyway.

So that night after dinner instead of going to the roof she agreed to help Nora with her knife throwing skills. They were down in the training room practicing when Eric burst through the doors as mad as a raging bull.

Both Rain and Nora turned to see him charging towards them. He was pissed.

 _Oh shit!_

Rain thought he would yell or scream but as he reached her he became quite composed. It was his voice that intimidated her and his eyes. They never left her and all she wanted to do was look away but she didn't want him to see her scared again. In fact, she didn't want him to think she had been affected by him at all.

"You're memory seems to be about as good as your shooting skills initiate," he said in a quiet, low tone.

"I'm helping Nora with her knife skills Coulter. And by that I mean I'm actually helping her. I'm not throwing knives _at her_ as a form of teaching. Maybe you should stay and watch. You might learn a few things."

Eric's eyes flashed dangerously.

Nora just looked on, shocked and confused that Rain would dare speak to him like that.

"Be careful initiate. You don't want to get on my bad side."

Rain purposely rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "Didn't realise you had any other sides to you than that."

Eric smiled at her sassiness but it came out as a sneer. "So you're not coming to training?"

"No Eric. I'm not coming to training," she spoke as if she was explaining something obvious to a little child.

Eric smiled cruelly and turned to Nora whose eyes were wide. She couldn't believe what was happening.

"So Nora, how do you feel about fighting against Oliver tomorrow?"

"What?" asked Rain abruptly as she gripped the knife in her hand tightly.

Nora looked between them. She was terrified. "I-I-"

Eric smirked. "I guess it's all up to your friend here to decide who you'll fight against tomorrow."

Rain stared at him, she was speechless.

Not even glancing Rain's way he turned around and walked out of the room confidently. He knew he had won.

Once he had left Nora gasped, "Rain! I can't. Oliver will - "

But she was interrupted by a frustrated shriek from Rain. "SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed as she threw the knife she was holding at a target's groin.

She turned to Nora. "I hate him! I hate him! I. HATE. HIM!"

She sighed and wiped the hair out of her face. She then hugged Nora. "Don't worry, you won't be fighting Oliver tomorrow."

She quickly made her way to the rooftop, fuming the whole way. Nothing was in her control. Nothing!

As she reached the rooftop Eric was there leaning back on the open door and smirking. He knew without a doubt that she would come. _Asshole_.

"Glad you could make it," he mocked as she entered. She ignored him.

Suddenly she felt the fear she had felt yesterday. What if he shot at her again?

Sensing her fear he said that he wouldn't be picking up a gun today. He said that it was about time she learned to shoot without a demonstration.

Rain briefly wondered if that was his way of being nice to her but then dismissed it. He was probably just trying to make it harder for her. She relied on being shown how to do it, so he must want to humiliate her when she got it wrong.

Rain didn't realise that not picking up a gun was the closest thing Eric was capable of doing to apologise to her for what he had put her through.

Rain thought that she would have to endure him taunting her throughout the whole session but he was surprisingly civil.

"Why are you struggling to hold the gun steady more than you usually do?" he asked as he observed her technique. It wasn't unkind, it was just something he noticed. "Have you hurt your ribs?" he guessed.

Rain nodded. "Took a few hits there," she stated as she waited for him to mock her about her weak fighting skills. But he didn't.

He nodded. "Next time, when your opponent goes to strike move back and as their leg or arm goes down, step forward and take a jab to their throat hard and fast."

Rain blinked. Did he just give her advice?

She nodded. Still surprised.

They continued on much like this and Rain found her anger towards him slowly slip away. She still hated him for threatening Nora and basically blackmailing her but she found it a lot easier to be around him when they both focused on training and nothing else.

Their next few training sessions went like this and Rain found it easier to concentrate on shooting moving objects. She was even surprised in one session were Eric had brought the knives up to show her that she was able to hit a moving target with a knife and that she needed to apply that same hand eye co-ordination to her shooting.

It was going well. She was getting better at shooting. She was more confident in her fighting skills. She was even able to thwart an attack on her ribs in the fighting ring due to Eric's advice. They had settled into a civil relationship where they ignored each other unless they were on the roof and when they were there, they only talked about training.

It didn't last.

It all changed because she fought Thorn in the ring. He was beating her pretty bad. She was on the floor with a bloody nose and everyone thought she would concede. She didn't. She felt safe with Thorn. She wanted to push herself as hard as she could go. She wiped her nose on her top and slowly got up into a fighting stance. She nodded at Thorn. He reluctantly came at her.

She blocked him a few times and punched him in the mouth giving him a split lip. He came back harder with a kick to her shoulder where she tumbled back to the floor. Anyone else would have leapt on top of her and knocked her out cold but he waited for her to concede.

Feeling dizzy she got up slowly again not wanting to give in. After a few rounds she found herself on the floor again. Winded and coughing. People were yelling at her to concede but she didn't want to. She could taste the blood from her nose and she was losing her breath again but she got up.

She didn't know that Eric was watching. He was fuming. He wanted to scream at her to concede but he couldn't. He himself had made it clear to all the transfers that he thought those who conceded weren't Dauntless material. "Dauntless never give up" he had shouted. But watching her welcome this beating made him angry. He couldn't figure out why but he didn't give it much thought. He just wanted to yell at her and tell her how stupid she was.

Finally in her sixth attempt at rising from the floor she collapsed and blacked out. Eric was there first to pick her up and carry her to the infirmary.

Four noticed how gentle he was with her.

Eric didn't know he was being watched. All he could see was Rain. As he walked to the infirmary he looked down at her in his arms and noticed how delicate and small she was. A crumpled, bloodied, delicate mess. A stupid, stubborn, beautiful mess.

"You're a fucking idiot!" he whispered to her angrily.

Rain didn't know he stayed to wipe the blood off her face and neck, or that he came to check on her while she was sleeping. She just knew that he went back to being a total dick to her.

"Maybe point the gun at yourself, you know, since you have a death wish."

They were up on the roof back to training a few days after she had recovered.

Rain glared at him and lowered the gun in her hands.

"I thought we were here to you know…train," she said through gritted teeth.

"Just tell me, is it fetish or something?"

"What?" she asked, looking at him as if he were insane.

"You seem to enjoy having the shit kicked out of you. He knocked you down so many times but you kept coming back for more. If that isn't some sort of sexual compulsion I don't what is."

Rain just rolled her eyes at him which seemed to fuel his annoyance even further. He wanted answers.

"So is that all it takes for you little Amity? A guy has to knock you around for a bit and suddenly you're all hot for him? I guess the fact that you're turned on by violence means you're more Dauntless than I thought."

It all happened within seconds. Rain's temper flared. She clicked the safety on the gun, put it down on a ledge close by, turned and punched Eric as hard as she could across the face.

He stumbled backwards in surprise. His hand rose to rub his cheek. Her punch was more forceful than he thought it would be.

She was breathing heavily now. "Do you feel hot for me now Coulter?"

 **So I'm going to leave it there. Review if you want to know what happens next.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Kiss

**Thank you so much to ShyNiks, mmelody6, SmallLittleCagedBird, luchi77181, tripmisses, aishiteru naru, Pandora10001 and the guests who reviewed. There's lots of Eric and Rain goodness in this chapter so enjoy!**

 **Chapter 8: The Kiss**

"Or how about now?" she moved to punch him a second time but he caught her wrist. He then swiftly gripped her hip with his other hand and pushed her until her back hit the brick wall behind her.

Rain gasped and his eyes snapped to her lips.

With her free hand she clawed at his hand on her waist which he quickly grasped in his own and suddenly she found both her hands locked with his on either side of her head. She was trapped.

Still breathing heavily she looked up to find Eric's eyes boring into hers barely inches away from her face. He was also breathing quite hard. She couldn't help but notice how tall and broad he was, he towered over her.

"Let me go!" She said between gritted teeth as she weakly tried to push herself out of his grasp. But he was too strong. She didn't like how close he was to her or how her heart was suddenly beating so fast.

"Looks like you need to work on your fighting skills little Amity," he mocked in a low tone.

"Screw you!" she spat out recklessly.

"If you want," he smirked and looked her up and down with an obvious appreciation for what he saw.

Seething, she then tried to kick him or at least stamp on his feet to somehow break the contact between them but he was too fast and experienced. He pressed himself closer to her to stop her.

"Let me go!" she commanded again.

"You claim to be Dauntless, so make me." He said in a low tone. But the pain in her wrists made her give up.

"Please Eric," she took in a shaky breath. "You're hurting me."

"So you're allowed to hurt me but I can't return the favour?"

He showed no signs of remorse but he loosened his grip. She felt the pain in her wrists subside.

"I thought you liked being roughed up a little. It certainly seemed that way in the ring the other day."

"No!" she growled. "I'm not doing this with you! I haven't done anything wrong! I did what I had to do and I learnt what I had to learn. I don't have to explain myself to you! I don't even get why you're pissed! You're the one who always says that Dauntless never give up!"

"You learnt what you had to learn?" he echoed viciously. "What the fuck did you learn from having the shit kicked out of you?" His eyes never left hers and they demanded an answer.

Rain tried again to pull out of his grasp but Eric quickly pressed his knee up against her thigh to stop her from moving.

"Answer me!" he demanded.

Rain's eyes became fiery. How dare he command anything of her!

"I learnt how much physical pain my body can take." she snapped. She leaned in closer to him as she felt her anger build up inside her. "I learnt how far I can push myself mentally to accept it. So fuck you and your leadership bullshit! You don't get to take this away from me and call it a lesson!"

Her face was so close to his that their noses were almost touching. Both of them were breathing heavily.

The fire in her eyes and the sound of her breathing is what made Eric come undone. He couldn't control himself. She was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen and that's what made him give into his impulses. He quickly closed the gap between them and pushed his lips to hers hard and fast. He gripped her hands in his tightly against the wall.

The kiss was short. He broke away quickly also letting go of her hands. She whimpered at the loss of contact which made him want to devour her. They were both breathing heavily.

She looked at him in shock and confusion but it was not in disgust so he stepped forward and leaned in to kiss her again. He couldn't control his desire for her. Not anymore.

As she realised what was about to happen she hurriedly pushed him away and he let her. She was still breathing hard and her eyes where wide. She covered her mouth in disbelief.

They stood there eyes locked as Eric let the waves of rejection hit him.

He then walked to the door of the roof, opened it and left. If anyone had seen him no one would have been able to tell that in that moment he felt utter loathing for himself. He wasn't good enough for her, he knew it. So why had he let himself lose control?

Eric tried to distract himself from playing how Rain had pushed him away over and over in his head but he couldn't. He decided to go straight down to Max and discuss how he would go on a two week assignment to visit the other factions – a task they were going to assign to their associates under them but he made up some excuse about wanting the job done right so he had to do it himself. Max didn't question it and Eric packed his bags to leave early the next morning.

Rain's head was spinning. She couldn't believe what had happened. Every time she replayed Eric kissing her over in her mind she felt an aching thrill pass through her body. She hated herself for it. She was attracted to Eric, she would admit that but the last thing she wanted to be was one of his dumb sluts. That wasn't her.

She had planned to confront him the next day and make it clear that she wasn't interested and that he could find a bed buddy somewhere else, but an unsure thought crept into her mind. What if it wasn't just a physical thing? Could it be possible that he actually wanted to be with her? She dismissed this thought right away. She knew about Eric's reputation and she wasn't going to fall for any of it even if she couldn't stop thinking about the way he had looked at her. It had been with raw and animalistic desire. River had never looked at her like that. Rain shook herself out of her stupor. No! She wasn't going to think about it.

The next day came and Rain was surprised to find out that Eric had gone away to another faction on business. She wouldn't admit to herself that she was disappointed.

The other initiates were elated. No Eric for a few days meant utter freedom even though they were still training like soldiers.

Rain assumed that she didn't have to show up for training on the roof since he wasn't there so she was surprised when Christina came over to her at dinner the next night and told her that Eric had left her in charge of her training while he was gone. Rain didn't mind. She appreciated the help and it was refreshing to have someone like Christina train her. No taunting, just teaching. Though a part of her acknowledged that it wasn't as exciting as it was with Eric, being around him made her nervous and a part of her liked it.

She didn't know when Eric would be back and she got used to expecting Christina on the roof. Two weeks later when she went up to the roof she found that she was alone. She decided to practice by herself for a while and after she fired a few rounds – all hitting the target – she felt a jolt of nervous energy pass through her when a voice behind her spoke.

"Not bad little Amity, looks like we only need to work on moving targets from now on."

It was him.

Her heart began to beat faster and she willed herself to calm down and turn around.

She turned to find him a respectful distance away from her, arms crossed, all in black and unbelievably hot. She hated that she couldn't deny it anymore. Her mind flashed back to their last time on the roof together.

"I guess I've gotten better," she replied keeping her voice even.

"Don't get cocky, you still have a lot to learn."

She purposely rolled her eyes in response as he set things up. For the next hour they only talked about technique. It was killing her. She wanted to scream at him and ask why he kissed her. And why did he leave for that matter? Was it because of her?

At the end of training she couldn't hold it in anymore. As they put the guns away she spoke quietly but clearly.

"You kissed me." She stated.

Eric froze for a second as he was closing the cage where they kept the firearms but he quickly composed himself.

"I did." He answered simply.

Rain took a deep breath. "Why?"

"Why not?" he answered confidently and raised an eyebrow.

Rain clucked her tongue in annoyance.

He chuckled. "Because I wanted to little Amity, that's why."

"And you always just take what you want right? Regardless of what anyone else wants." She crossed her arms.

"Most girls want what I have to give." He smirked at her.

She scoffed at his arrogance. "Why did you leave after?" she asked.

He looked at her and a vicious smile appeared upon his face.

"Oh little Amity you thought I left because of you?" he mocked cockily. "I left on business. What were you expecting? That I went away to carve our initials into some tree somewhere?"

Rain glared at him, but didn't say anything. What _had_ she been expecting?

"Look, you're hot and if you ever want to have a good time you know where to find me - "

"You're disgusting!" she snarled as she cut him off. "I am not one of the dumb whores around

here whose sole purpose in life is to get into your STD filled bed. So don't touch me! Ever! Again!"

She walked off angrily clueless about how Eric really felt. The truth was that for the two weeks he

was gone, every spare minute was spent rehearsing what he would say to her if she confronted him.

She had no idea that it was all an act.

 **Review if you want more!**

 **References – "You don't get to take this away from me and call it a lesson" is a quote from Grey's Anatomy.**


	9. Chapter 9: Off the Edge

**Thanks heaps to Talia, mmelody6, SmallLittleCagedBird and dauntlesscandor44 for reviewing and to all those who followed and favourited this story!**

 **Chapter 9: Off the Edge**

Eric couldn't stop thinking about Rain's look of disgust. She clearly thought he was a man-whoring jerk. And that had been the plan – to push her away and get a handle on his emotions. To make her think she was just like any other girl to him so that she would not have any power over him. It had worked. So why was it bothering him so much?

He couldn't figure it out and he didn't like it. Every morning he would watch her. He hated how affectionate she was with her friends especially Michael and the Amity kid. She was always hugging them or leaning into them or sharing food with them. It bothered him more than he liked. He hated it and he began to hate her for making him feel powerless. He wanted his power back.

DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT.

"Finish her!" Eric snarled to Rachel who was in the fighting ring with Nora. Nora was laying on the mat in pain obviously unable to fight anymore. Rachel grimaced and punched Nora in the face one more time and she became unconscious.

"Record Rachel as the winner!" Eric boomed.

Rain and Michael rushed over to help Nora. They carried her to the side of the training room. Rain placed Nora's head in her lap and they waited for her to wake up.

Everyone noticed that Eric was in a particularly nasty mood that morning and so they were all on edge, worried that they may do something to make his wrath come swinging their way - all but Rain, she had a wrath of her own brewing.

Her mind couldn't seem to stop going back to the day Eric kissed her and then to how he had made it clear that she (like all women) was just a toy to have fun with.

He had ignored her all morning but when he noticed that she and Michael were sitting down with Nora he growled at them to leave her and go back to training.

"I'm not leaving her until she wakes up!" Rain protested cradling Nora's head. Michael was already standing up.

Eric towered over her more than usual because she was sitting down.

"I'm not going to ask you again initiate," he warned her. "Return to training now!"

The voice he used and the deathly glare he gave her clearly showed that she didn't have a choice in the matter but she wouldn't accept that. It was about damned time he realised that he couldn't do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, to whoever he wanted.

Rain took her jacket off, placed it under Nora's head and got up.

"And I'm not going to tell you again, I'm not leaving her until she wakes up!"

Eric's nostrils flared and his eyes became daggers. Within an instant he was right before her, looking down into her wilful eyes. Their noses were almost touching and she could feel his breath upon her face. She ignored her instinct to take a step backwards, she didn't want to show any weakness.

"Are you disobeying a direct order initiate?" he asked in a dangerously low tone.

"I'm disobeying a _stupid_ order, _sir_ ," she mocked him.

"Everybody stop!" he commanded loudly without breaking eye contact with her. She flinched. "Greenfield has volunteered to teach you all a special lesson." He smiled at her cruelly and grabbed her arm. "Follow us!" He ordered.

He dragged her out of the training room all the way to the metal bridge over the chasm. The others followed, all except Oliver but nobody noticed, not even Four.

"Being in Dauntless means you are training to be soldiers." He bellowed over the noise of the rushing water of the chasm. "Disobedience to your superior is a serious offence. Who can tell me why?"

An Erudite initiate answered, "Because when on a real mission you must obey your team leader without question or everyone will divide which creates anarchy".

"Good." Eric responded. "You hear that Amity?"

Rain glared at him. He was still holding her arm and she could feel his fingers digging into her flesh even more when he spoke to her.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you that disobedience will not be tolerated." As soon as he said this he grabbed both of Rains hands and swung her over the bridge.

She felt her heart jump into her stomach and she screamed in shock. She hung onto Eric's hands for dear life. Looking down all she could see was the rushing water. Many of the other initiates gasped but she was too terrified to hear them.

"Grab the rail." He spoke in a low tone as if this was just a regular occurrence for him. She looked up at him, eyes wide in fear.

"Or don't." he shrugged and he led her hands close to the rail and let go of them one at a time. She grabbed onto it quickly, she didn't have any other choice. Rain let out a noise of struggle as she tried to hold her body weight up.

Eric stepped back to lean against the railing behind him.

"You have three options." He stated. "You can hang there for two minutes and I'll forget your disobedience, you can fall and die or you could give up, but if you give up you're out."

Rain was breathing hard and trying not to move too much in panic.

"You can do it Rain!" Thorn called out to her.

Eric turned his head to glare at him but Thorn didn't care.

"Think of everything you've been through Rain, if you can survive that this should be a cake walk. It's just two minutes babe."

Rain growled and re-gripped her hands on the rail more steadily. Thorn was right, she'd been in worse pain than this. And that reminder was all she needed to give her the strength to continue. Who did Eric think he was to try to intimidate her in this way? She'd survived the death of her parents, she'd survived leaving Amity and she survived all the rigorous training they had been subjected too. She was strong. She wasn't going to give in today.

Eric glanced at his watch. "Time." He boomed loudly and knelt down to help Rain up. She suddenly found herself in his arms gripping his biceps to steady herself. She looked up to find him staring at her. "Training is over, get out of here. Go to lunch!" He commanded the other initiates. Most left still in shock, but not her friends.

"I trust you've learnt your lesson?" he asked her, eyes daring her to contradict him but she wasn't going to play this game with him anymore.

She looked down, feigning defeat. "Yes sir," she said quietly. "I'm sorry sir."

Eric blinked in surprise and she let go of him and ran into Thorn's arms. Michael and Beverly crowded around her. All of them praised her for her strength and bravery. Eric watched, confused about her reaction and jealous that she seemed to naturally calm down as Thorn wrapped his arms around her and lay his cheek upon her head. He realised that Rain's reaction had put a distance between them. He didn't like it.

He didn't realise that Four was standing next to him until he spoke.

"Two minutes," he stated quietly. "That's got to be a record for you."

"What?" asked Eric irritated and he drew his eyes away from Rain to look at Four.

"You usually hang them off the bridge for five minutes or more. Last year with Christina it was five and the year before that it was Andrew for ten. You should ask yourself what's so different about this girl that you only made it two minutes."

Eric glared at Four.

Four smirked back in response and left.

Eric sighed in frustration and saw that Rain and her friends were leaving.

DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT.

Eric didn't go down to lunch with the rest of them. He decided to eat in his apartment. Four's words were rolling around in his head. _You should ask yourself what's so different about this girl that you only made it two minutes._

Four was right, he normally gave them a lot more time than that. He slammed his fist down onto the table. How was it that after what he did, he had even less control than before?

DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT. DIVERGENT.

As they sat down to lunch they realised that they had completely forgotten about Nora.

"Here, you have something to eat. I'll go check on her and make sure she's ok," said Thorn as he place a sandwich in front of Rain.

"I'll come too," volunteered Beverly.

"We'll all go," said Rain. She picked up her sandwich and got up with the others to walk to the training room.

They found Nora right where they left her only she was awake and crying. They all crowded around her and Michael put his arm around her. She flinched at first but then leaned into him.

"It'll be ok babe. So you lost a fight, we all have. It's not that bad," comforted Thorn.

Nora didn't say anything but she nodded. Rain and Beverly exchanged concerned looks.

"How about we practice our fighting techniques together until the first stage of initiation is over?" Rain suggested.

They all agreed but again Nora didn't say anything she just nodded while wiping away her tears.

"You know what I think?" Began Beverly. "I think we should stay in the pit tonight after dinner and have some fun! It's about time we actually enjoyed ourselves! Let's go to one of the clubs and have a few drinks and if we're game enough let's get a tattoo or piercing!"

"Hell yeah!" exclaimed Michael. The others joined in excitedly saying it was a great idea, except for Nora, but when Michael gently pushed her with his shoulder she quietly agreed.

Rain briefly wondered if there was anything else bothering Nora besides losing the fight but she dismissed it. _We've all had bad days and tonight will cheer her up._

 **Review if you want to know what happens next**


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